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Luigi
Luigi is Mario's younger, taller twin brother and is a major protagonist of the Mario franchise, being second only to Mario. Throughout his life, he has lived in Mario's shadow, developing both cowardly and heroic tendencies. Despite this, Luigi has helped and fought alongside his brother on many occasions. Mario Bros. marks his first appearance in the Mario franchise and his debut in general. Originally an exact copy, then palette swap of Mario, Luigi was created to facilitate a second player option. Since the two-player mode was dropped from most main Super Mario games beginning with Super Mario Land, Luigi has gained his own identity and personality, and he has effectively become the deuteragonist of the Mario franchise. This is especially noticeable in installments for the Luigi's Mansion and the Mario & Luigi ''series of games. General information Physical description Compared to Mario, Luigi is slimmer and taller. His face is noticeably thinner, his eyes are slightly more bluish, and his hair is the same style as Mario's, but more of an auburn or dark maroon. Luigi's mustache is dark brown, sometimes black, and smooth, unlike Mario's ragged mustache. Luigi also wears clothes similar to Mario, but his shirt and cap are green instead of red. Layered over the shirt is blue overalls, which are a darker blue than Mario's. He also has brown work shoes, again darker than Mario's, with tan bottoms that reach above his ankles. Artwork however sometimes shows Luigi with the same color of blue overalls and brown shoes as Mario. In ''Luigi's Mansion, Luigi's shoes have Velcro on them, which is not present in any other game. The Luigi Cap is similar to the Mario Cap, being green instead of red and having an "L" replace Mario's signature "M"; the "L''" was in italic from ''Mario Kart 64 to Luigi's Mansion for a few years. Artwork for the Mario & Luigi series has consistently depicted Luigi as wearing red and white striped socks; this trait is not present in any other games. Mario and Luigi's color preferences are reflected throughout the land in the form of various enemies, such as Koopa Troopas and Cheep-Cheeps, who also come in red and green varieties. These foes even reflect the brothers' personalities, with red ones being more aggressive and green ones acting cautious. In fact, Mario and Luigi are not the only known red and green brothers, with similarly color-coded siblings including Cork and Cask, the Red and Green bridge guards, the Armored Harriers, Massif Bros., Elder & Junior Shrooboid and Gigi and Merri. When tattling the younger of the Armored Harriers, Goombella theorizes that it may be some sort of rule that younger brothers must wear green, offering a possible explanation for Luigi's trademark green shirt and cap. However, Luigi has not always chosen to wear his usual green and blue clothes. Mario Bros. originally dressed Luigi in a black shirt and green overalls, although artwork showed his shirt to be red. Shigeru Miyamoto stated that the green color of clothing for Luigi was inspired by the enemy Shellcreeper. Wrecking Crew gave him a magenta pair of overalls and helmet, seemingly leaving him shirtless. Even Super Mario Bros. gave its Luigi a green shirt and white overalls (although Super Mario Bros. Deluxe replaced this with a less aberrant brown shirt and green overalls, leaving his original colors to Fire Luigi, who usually has an inverse scheme), even though his usual palette and appearance had emerged in artwork. Fire Luigi's pallet in Super Mario Bros. uses the color scheme used by Fire Mario. Luigi originated as being a palette swap of Mario in his earlier adventures. This applies to Mario Bros., Wrecking Crew, Super Mario Bros., Super Mario Bros. 3, Super Mario World, Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island, and in a few versions of Mario is Missing!. Luigi's first depiction as taller and thinner is in Famicom Grand Prix II: 3D Hot Rally, although Luigi's first unique sprites came in Super Mario Bros. 2, in which his artwork appearance conveniently coincided with the tall Mama's sprite. Nintendo of Japan would not adapt Luigi's artwork differences to his in-game sprite until Super Mario Kart, although Luigi's various models have been unique almost ever since, even in remakes of games where he was originally a palette swap (such as Super Mario All-Stars, Super Mario All-Stars + Super Mario World, Super Mario Advance 2, and Super Mario Advance 4). Both Mario and Luigi have been described as "cutesy," to the extent that Shigeru Miyamoto considered redesigning them to "become a bit more grown-up" in the GameCube era, for instance by removing their trademark V sign.17 However, aside from growing more realistic as graphics have advanced, Luigi and his brother have changed little over the years, and continue to flash the V sign regularly. Luigi's appearance does, however, tend to lend itself to heavy stylization. The Luigi's Mansion graphical team took it upon themselves to animate every part of Luigi to convey emotion, resulting in such exaggerations to the plumber's body as head-expanding screams during boss cutscenes and complete flattenings by fake doors. The Super Smash Bros. series applies Luigi's cowardice to his actions, making most of his attacks look reckless and unwilling and giving him awkward movements, securing his official title as the series' "dreamy, comical poster boy." Personality Luigi is portrayed as timid and a bit of a coward. He is also extremely worrisome and is considerably self-conscious. However, he overcomes his fears and acts like a hero when necessary, such as when someone he knows is in danger. On the New Super Mario Bros. Wii website, it describes Luigi as "Mario's fearless brother". In keeping with his personality-based Power Flower, a sign in Big Boo's Haunt in Super Mario 64 DS describes Luigi as "wispy." Arguably, Luigi's most apparent trait is his seeming cowardice. Though he showed several instances of cowardice in early non-game media such as The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!, his cowardly nature was not actually shown in-game until Luigi's Mansion (aside from a few hints in Paper Mario), and has carried over to almost all of Luigi's subsequent appearances. Although Luigi's phasmophobia is his most overbearing fear, he usually reconsiders at the mere thought of any monsters or trials, especially in the Mario & Luigi series. However, Luigi can be quite brave, and has saved the Mushroom Kingdom alongside his brother multiple times. Super Paper Mario especially glimpses into Luigi's more courageous side, showing him boldly rushing into dangerous situations and rarely even implicating his cowardice. In addition, the ending for Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon also hinted that he got over his phasmophobia, or at the very least takes exception to Polterpups and makes friends with the ghosts of Evershade Valley. Another strong element of Luigi's personality is his apparent complex of being overlooked. Although his Superstar status has earned him many fans, including an entire fan club led by Toadia and multiple supporting Toads (one of which claims to be his biggest fan in Super Mario 64 DS), even Bowser and the Koopa Troop have occasional trouble with remembering his name (as seen in Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga), and he appears to be almost unknown in the Beanbean Kingdom. Although Luigi's biggest reactions to his frequent overlookings in the Mario & Luigi ''series are a few "…"s and face-faults, his inattention was played up for comic relief in ''Paper Mario, with the snarky man in green complaining about being left behind and perpetually training for that elusive next adventure. Luigi's bio in Mario Party 5 states that he has been gaining popularity in recent years. Luigi's state of being in the shadow of his brother shows strongly in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. An example would be the way Luigi is almost never happy, how his commentary is very monotoned, and how one of his taunts is a bashful kick of the ground. Also, his Final Smash, Negative Zone, seemed to have developed because of living in his brother's shadow forever. Additionally, whenever the crowd cheers for Luigi, not too many people are heard cheering for him and when the announcer says Luigi's name, he sounds a little surprised. Snake's codec conversation even has the Colonel refer to Luigi as the "king of second bananas", despite Snake's protests. Despite this, however, Masahiro Sakurai did not intend to play up Luigi's overshadowed status, instead aiming to make him "everyone's favorite man in green."19 Luigi's state in the shadow of Mario is present in other Super Smash Bros. games, since the original Super Smash Bros. addresses him as the "eternal understudy" when he's unlocked; Super Smash Bros. Melee also refers to him in a similar manner, and his cinematic in the game's Adventure Mode shows him Footstool Jumping Mario, signifying his tiredness of being number two. In Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, whenever a Palutena's Guidance conversation is activated when fighting against Luigi, Viridi and Palutena are quick to point out Luigi's status as a "neglected deuteragonist", even though Pit held him in a higher regard. The Super Smash Bros. games make Luigi a comical, yet depressive figure, which is evident by his aforementioned unhappiness, his violent taunt, quiet commentary, and origin of Negative Zone, yet, several other actions show Luigi behaving childishly. These include: his dash attack, where he swings his arms aimlessly while keeping a humorous panicking expression; his neutral attack, where he hits opponents with his butt for the third hit; his up tilt, where he "paw swipes" the opponent with his fists while closing his eyes; the aftermath of his Super Jump Punch, where he falls upside-down; his idle poses, where he scratches the back of his head sheepishly or humorously pulls his nose before wincing in pain; and his victory poses, which have him do the following: breathing heavily with his eyes half-closed, falling stiff and planking on the ground (also one of his taunts), or childishly making finger pistols and pretending to shoot his opponents (which is supported by him saying "Bang, bang!"). When Luigi finally went on a quest of his own in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, he's presented as more arrogant and somewhat of a liar, as he changes the stories of his adventure to make himself look better; his partners claim his stories are false. The novelizations of his escapades describe them with even more flowery exaggerations, stating for instance that he played an earth spirit in the Jazzafrazz Town Drama Slam (whereas he actually played grass on the side of the road, according to Hayzee) and that he awoke Cranberry with "a soft call" (rather than a sneeze). In Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time, the Star Gate (which supposedly knows all) passes Luigi as "unworthy" to enter. This most likely has something to do with Luigi's "dark secret from his past," which it also mentions; Luigi did something either embarrassing or foolish which he has kept a secret ever since. However, in a interview with a member of staff, he stated Luigi had no dark secret, and it was actually a reference to Luigi's constantly living in the shadow of his brother. He also added: "Why make Luigi into a bad guy? We have Waluigi for that instead!" Even the game itself makes a straightforward point that Luigi has a large heart, as proven when he hits the Aurora Block and it grows to a gigantic size, flattening him. In Mario Strikers Charged and Mario Kart Wii, Luigi is shown to cry when he is frustrated and losing a game. Luigi is also portrayed as somewhat refined, leading the "Luigi Gentlemen" in Mario Superstar Baseball. Luigi's Mansion shows him to be a bit of a neat freak, constantly criticizing the dustiness of his mansion and even mentioning at one point that he hand washes his cap as opposed to using a washing machine as his brother does. He also seems to have an eye for art, but doesn't appreciate many of King Boo's decorations. Luigi has also been known to cross-dress several times, usually as Princess Peach in order to trick their enemies. Luigi can be sensitive when someone insults him, especially if the jab in question regards his mustache (as proven prior to his showdown with Dimentio). Luigi also appears to show concern for cruelty to animals; he is horrified by the deer heads and leopard skin rugs in the Safari Room in Luigi's Mansion and declares that he won't stand for an animal being treated in such a manner. Whereas Mario rarely speaks in the video games aside from numerous yells and grunts, Luigi is proven to be quite the conversationalist in the Paper Mario series, except in Paper Mario: Sticker Star (where he has no dialogue at all); however, just like Mario, Luigi is mostly a silent character in the overall Mario franchise. When speaking, he talks in a strong Italian accent like his brother. Three exceptions are the DiC Entertainment Mario cartoons, which give Luigi a strong Brooklyn accent. In Super Paper Mario, Luigi is almost Mario's "mouth". He does all the speaking for Mario in the beginning of the game (a role later taken by Tippi). Once he joins Mario's party, however, he talks only during scenes where the four heroes are shown together. Curiously, the inverse seems to be the case in the rare instance of a Luigi-only quest; both brothers are capable of captioned speech in Luigi's Mansion, but Luigi is limited to ellipses and question marks when interacting with another character. In the Mario & Luigi series, Luigi, as well as Mario, talks in gibberish that the player can't interpret, but the other characters in the game do. In The Super Mario Bros. Super Show! Luigi is consistently portrayed as being the smarter of the two, but the cowardice trait is also shown as Luigi is scared of things going very wrong. He also doesn't take as many risks as Mario does. Revealed in Mario & Luigi: Dream Team is that he is willing to help his brother whenever he is in danger. He thinks that Mario is much cooler than he is, that he adores his brother because of this trait. The messages that appear in Dream's Deep further explains this trait. Overall, Luigi's personality is hard to determine and tends to change depending on the appearance. Very few games have portrayed him with a personality that lasts throughout the subsequent release. Overall, however, Luigi can be described as timid and cautious, yet kindhearted, brave, and willing to protect his homeland with Mario's help, though can be a bit negative at times. Age Luigi was initially introduced as Mario's much younger brother. The first indication of their specific age difference was in Family Album "The Early Years", which implied that Luigi was born after Mario by several years. However, Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island and Yoshi Touch & Go described the brothers as twins. The remake of the former, Yoshi's Island: Super Mario Advance 3, did not expressly call them twins, but noted that Luigi was Mario's younger brother, carried to their parents at the same time. Many video game sources still refer to Luigi as the younger brother, indicating that Luigi may have been the second born twin. For example, in Super Paper Mario, Luvbi refers to Mario and Luigi as twins at the end of chapter 7-1. Despite the small age difference, Luigi directly refers to Mario as "big bro" in the same game on more than one occasion. Also, while Luigi's Trophy description in Super Smash Bros. Brawl also referred to him as "younger twin brother", Colonel Roy Campbell calls Luigi a "kid brother" to Snake during Snake's Codec conversation in the same game. In the Mario cartoon series, Luigi playfully refers to Mario as his "little big brother", likely due to their height difference. Since Mario is stated to be 26 years old in the Japanese version of Super Smash Bros. Melee, then, provided it is correct, Luigi is also 26 years old. Powers and abilities Luigi's abilities are usually exactly the same as Mario's, such as in Mario Bros., Super Mario Bros., and Super Mario World so as to not give players advantages over each other. In most instances where one player can choose between the two brothers, however, Luigi is given his own gameplay quirks. This first occurred in Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels, where Luigi can jump higher than Mario but has lower traction and speed. In the American Super Mario Bros. 2, Luigi once again features the highest jump, but comparatively low speed and power. Luigi's high jumps but low traction would return in Super Mario Advance 2: Super Mario World, which, unlike its original version, allowed players to switch between Mario and Luigi at any time on the map screen. In three-dimensional adventures, such as Super Mario 64 DS, Super Mario Galaxy, and Super Mario Galaxy 2 Luigi is usually faster than Mario (at the cost of poorer acceleration), but retains his classic high jumps and poor traction. As aforementioned, Luigi has a higher top speed, but poorer acceleration than his brother in Super Mario 64 DS, along with poor traction and increased agility. In this game, the two brothers are the fastest in all speeds. Luigi's jumps are perhaps at their strongest in this game; not only can Luigi jump higher than his brother, but he can also scuttle to slow his fall. His backflip has the same effect as being caught in a Tweester or stomping a Fly Guy, allowing for a very slow descent. Unlike Mario, however, Luigi cannot Wall Jump in this game. As a result of his agility and lightness, Luigi can walk on water for a short time. Luigi's Power Flower is Vanish Luigi, allowing him to disappear for invincibility and the ability to walk through certain obstacles. In Super Paper Mario, Luigi's specialty is the Spring Jump, which sends him just off the screen to bound over obstacles and damage enemies mid-air. His standard jumps are also higher than any other character's and he has lower traction once more. However, the player can simply press down to stop instantly in this game (due to his Spring Jump). Electricity is sometimes depicted as Luigi's answer to Mario's fire. In Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga, Luigi is given the ability to harness and release electricity with a technique known as the Thunderhand, alongside his other specialty, the High Jump, to coincide with Mario's Spin Jump. This is referenced in Super Paper Mario with Mr. L's nickname of "The Green Thunder," and in Mario Strikers Charged where Luigi's Mega Strike involves controlling electricity. In addition to actual gameplay differences, Luigi often executes his moves differently than his brother. In Super Mario All-Stars + Super Mario World, Luigi jumps with his legs back and descends with them forward, kneels when sliding, and appears to spit fireballs rather than throwing them. The Super Smash Bros. series and Mario Kart: Double Dash!! give Luigi green fireballs, and in the former games his fireballs levitate. Perhaps most famously, Luigi's jumping animation in Super Mario Bros. 2 is merely his walking animation sped up; although Luigi's "kicking" jumps were momentarily ignored, they returned in the Super Mario Advance series, complete with a high-pitched warbling sound effect in Super Mario Advance 2 and 4''. Luigi's aforementioned scuttle from ''Super Mario 64 DS also involves walking in mid-air, and he "kicks" during his Triple Jump in Super Mario Galaxy and Super Mario Galaxy 2 instead of flipping like Mario. Luigi has also exhibited many unique traits in various sports and spin-off games, despite usually being a balance character like his brother. In games such as Mario Kart Wii, Luigi has a higher top speed than Mario, but has lower handling and acceleration. In the Mario Golf series, Luigi hits with less power than his brother but features better control, although his shots consistently curve left. Luigi is slightly faster than Mario in Mario Superstar Baseball, and reveals his special pitch and swing (the Tornado Ball and Tornado Swing, respectively) in Mario Super Sluggers. Despite his skills, Luigi is also somewhat clumsy. For example, in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, he accidentally bumps one of his partners, Blooey the Blooper, into a volcano while trying to stop evil, burning him to a golden crisp but not killing him. Usually, though, he is very agile and can do many stunts Mario can not, and in fact appears to be the best jumper in the Mushroom Kingdom and he is shown to be a good breakdancer in Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games whenever he gets a gold medal he breakdances like Sonic, and in the events Sychronized Swimming, Figure Skating, and Rhythmic Ribbon, he is shown to be flexible and a good gymnast because of his long legs. Category:Characters